IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v234y2024ics0165176523004512.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

To gamble or not to gamble? The effect of mobile money on gambling in Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Nan, Wenxiu (Vince)
  • Li, Tao

Abstract

Mobile money (MM) enables users, especially the unbanked, to access financial services via mobile phones in developing countries. Whereas much has been studied about the socioeconomic benefits of MM in sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about whether and how MM use influences risk-taking behaviors such as gambling. This paper documents that MM use leads to the heightened probability of gambling and this probability increases with use frequency. Moreover, we find that young male MM users with a lower socioeconomic status (i.e., unemployed, low education, and low income) are more likely to engage in gambling. Our findings call for policymakers’ attention to the potential for unintended consequence of MM.

Suggested Citation

  • Nan, Wenxiu (Vince) & Li, Tao, 2024. "To gamble or not to gamble? The effect of mobile money on gambling in Kenya," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:234:y:2024:i:c:s0165176523004512
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2023.111425
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176523004512
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2023.111425?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher Baum & Yingying Dong & Arthur Lewbel & Tao Yang, 2012. "Binary choice models with endogenous regressors," SAN12 Stata Conference 9, Stata Users Group.
    2. Richard Chamboko & Sevias Guvuriro, 2021. "The Role of Betting on Digital Credit Repayment, Coping Mechanisms and Welfare Outcomes: Evidence from Kenya," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, February.
    3. Yingying Dong & Arthur Lewbel, 2015. "A Simple Estimator for Binary Choice Models with Endogenous Regressors," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1-2), pages 82-105, February.
    4. William Jack & Tavneet Suri, 2014. "Risk Sharing and Transactions Costs: Evidence from Kenya's Mobile Money Revolution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(1), pages 183-223, January.
    5. Janine Aron, 2018. "Mobile Money and the Economy: A Review of the Evidence," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 33(2), pages 135-188.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yao, Becatien H. & Shanoyan, Aleksan & Schwab, Benjamin & Amanor-Boadu, Vincent, 2022. "Mobile money, transaction costs, and market participation: evidence from Côte d’Ivoire and Tanzania," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    2. Augusto Mendoza Calderón, 2017. "El Efecto del Empleo sobre la Violencia Doméstica: Evidencia para las Mujeres Peruanas," Working Papers 99, Peruvian Economic Association.
    3. María E. Aguilar-Fernández & José Ramon Otegi-Olaso, 2018. "Firm Size and the Business Model for Sustainable Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-27, December.
    4. Joseph J. French & Juxin Yan & Yukihiro Yasuda, 2019. "Relationships Matter: the Impact of Bank-Firm Relationships on Mergers and Acquisitions in Japan," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 259-305, December.
    5. Manuel Denzer, 2019. "Estimating Causal Effects in Binary Response Models with Binary Endogenous Explanatory Variables - A Comparison of Possible Estimators," Working Papers 1916, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    6. Sucharita Ghosh & Emanuele Grassi, 2020. "Overeducation and overskilling in the early careers of PhD graduates: Does international migration reduce labour market mismatch?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(4), pages 915-944, August.
    7. Ahmad Hassan Ahmad & Christopher Green & Fei Jiang, 2020. "Mobile Money, Financial Inclusion And Development: A Review With Reference To African Experience," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 753-792, September.
    8. Boerner, Lars & Rubin, Jared & Severgnini, Battista, 2021. "A time to print, a time to reform," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    9. Grainger, Daniel & Watkin-Lui, Felecia & Cheer, Karen, 2021. "The value of informed agency for Torres Strait climate change," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    10. Mylonidis, Nikolaos & Chletsos, Michael & Barbagianni, Vanessa, 2019. "Financial exclusion in the USA: Looking beyond demographics," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 144-158.
    11. Xiaoping He & David Reiner, 2018. "Consumer Engagement in Energy Markets: The Role of Information and Knowledge," Working Papers EPRG 1835, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    12. Pelletier, Adeline & Khavul, Susanna & Estrin, Saul, 2019. "Innovations in emerging markets: the case of mobile money," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101585, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Mary, Sébastien & Mishra, Ashok K., 2020. "Humanitarian food aid and civil conflict," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    14. Alexander Ahammer & G. Thomas Horvath & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2017. "The effect of income on mortality—new evidence for the absence of a causal link," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 180(3), pages 793-816, June.
    15. Miyajima, Ken, 2022. "Mobile phone ownership and welfare: Evidence from South Africa’s household survey," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    16. A. T. M. Hasibul Islam & Syed Abul Basher & A. K. Enamul Haque, 2022. "The impact of mobile money on long-term poverty: evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 24(2), pages 436-455, December.
    17. Ruyssen, Ilse & Salomone, Sara, 2018. "Female migration: A way out of discrimination?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 224-241.
    18. Tetteh, Godsway Korku & Goedhuys, Micheline & Konte, Maty & Mohnen, Pierre, 2020. "Towards a new index of mobile money inclusion and the role of the regulatory environment," MERIT Working Papers 2020-035, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    19. Nguyen, Cuong Viet & Tarp, Finn, 2022. "Changing male perceptions of gender equality: Evidence from a randomised controlled trial study," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    20. Lewbel, Arthur & Yang, Thomas Tao, 2016. "Identifying the average treatment effect in ordered treatment models without unconfoundedness," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 195(1), pages 1-22.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mobile money; Gamble; Socioeconomic status; Kenya;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:234:y:2024:i:c:s0165176523004512. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.